1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to the field of electronic commerce. More particularly, the invention relates to an intelligent method of order completion based on availability of stored billing information, such as a digital wallet.
2. Description of Related Art
It is becoming increasingly common for entities such as Internet service providers, online communities and portals to provide e-commerce networks to users and members wherein the entity provides centralized access to a large number of affiliated online merchants. Such e-commerce networks are advantageous to users, providing an enhanced online experience, and often allowing them to purchase goods and services at a significant discount. Affiliating with the e-commerce network provides the merchants with valuable marketing support, the user communities providing large pools of motivated, pre-qualified prospects. Finally, the e-commerce networks are beneficial to their sponsoring entities, allowing them to add value to their basic service and generating additional revenue streams.
Typically, such networks provide a single sign-on authentication. Frequently, they provide digital wallets, in which a user stores his or her billing information, such as billing address and credit card information. P. Hartmann, J. Bezos, S. Kaplan, J. Spiegel, Method and system for placing a purchase order via a communications network, U.S. Pat. No. 5,960,411 (Sep. 28, 1999) describe such a wallet wherein the user completes a purchase by performing a single action such as clicking a mouse after merchandise is selected.
Thereafter, when making purchases, billing information is automatically supplied from the wallet, eliminating the need for the user to enter billing information every time he or she makes a purchase from one of the affiliated merchants, a significant obstacle to purchasing, while greatly minimizing the possibility the user's billing information will be compromised in transit. Such networks of merchants often allow purchases by non-subscribers and those who don't have digital wallets, in which different levels of authentication may be encountered. It has been necessary to provide different methods of order completion for users of varying status. For example; one for users having a wallet who are fully authenticated, another for a user who lacks a wallet, another for a user of a third party wallet, and so on. Each method requires a separate user interface element, such as an ‘Order’ button, at the point of sale. The multiplicity of order buttons complicates the order completion process. Often, in confusion and frustration, the user may select the merchant's own order completion process that requires them to provide billing information they may already have provided in their digital wallet; or they may abandon the order altogether.
There exists, therefore, a need in the art for a means of simplifying the order completion process that encourages wallet usage. It would be a great advantage to provide an intelligent method of order completion that is capable of determining a user' authentication status and checking for the presence of previously stored billing information. It would be desirable to provide accelerated order completion without further interaction in the case of users who have previously stored billing information. It would be advantageous to automatically redirect transaction flow to a manual order completion process in the event that billing information is unavailable. Finally, it would be advantageous to provide single user interface element, such as an ‘Order’ button, to initiate the method.